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John was eating his food cheerfully as always, while occasionally seeing through the sight of his minions. After the trio ate all they could, he guarded the remaining uncooked meat in a big box before black-colored energy slowly covered them all.

Satisfied, the youngster went back to check how his minions were doing.

''Hm... Isn't that Ed?'' John muttered, before feeling relieved that his friend was still alive. This new, apocalyptic world was truly scary for them all. They fought together against a Peak 0-Star being at the leader-level.

'Wait... I got my minions, and he got a group... Isn't that a perfect prank?' A light bulb suddenly shone inside John's mind as a cheerful, and mischievous smile appeared on his face. The silver-haired youngster left the basement with the excuse of going to patrol, before slowly mixing within the shadows of the dark night.

It didn't take long before John got near the group, his presence being undetectable by any means. Just as his minions were commanded to approach the group, a black-haired man suddenly appeared 10 meters away from the group.

The black-haired man's face was colder than ice, and it was as if his own body was a world of ice and snow, invulnerable to warmth. Though John couldn't see the man's face, he could feel his coldness, 'Damn, was that lunatic of a brother always so cool?'

''This is the site of my Covering Sun Faction. Say your reasons for coming here.'' The black-haired man said while the group looked at him, their body shivering unconsciously. Even Edward, who thought of himself as cold-blooded after seeing so many ugly things about the world, shivered.

Looking towards the black-haired man, Edward thought to himself, 'So this is Lyse's big brother? Goddamit, I feel that if I don't explain, he might really kill us...'

It was his instinct, and in the past week, it was this instinct that saved them from death many times. His instinct told him that this man was dangerous, more dangerous than the monsters and other humans he had met.

There was only one thing worse than monsters, and these were humans. And even among humans, there are more dangerous humans. Behind him, the group of students took out guns and pointed at the black-haired man.

Seeing this, Edward quickly shouted, ''Don't shoot, do you want to die?! Hey, I came here because I saw your post on the forum, you're Lyse's big brother, so I guessed that Lyse is here as well. You can't go wanting to kill someone just because they happened to search for their friend, right?''

''I can.''

''...''

Even John who is hidden within the shadows felt speechless. But silently, he agreed with Haize, and just as he was going to step out to help the group, Haize's voice came to his ears, ''John, is the Ly's friend as he says?''

Sighing, the silver-haired youngster appeared beside Haize before poking the man on the cheek, ''You can't go threatening others' friends just because you've never seen him, 'kay? He is my best friend, and also Lyse's best friend.''

Haize looked at John silently as his cold expression went back to normal as if nothing had happened. Edward had never happened to meet Haize because most of the free time he had, was the time when Haize was managing the company.

''Sorry for what just happened. But I'll be saying, you'll need to fend food by yourselves, I won't be feeding anyone useless. Here, all of you are under my command.'' Haize said as some of them frowned, to them, being Edward's subordinates was more than enough. He even hunted food for them.

One of the males under Edward's command felt humiliated, as only Edward was powerful in his vision, ''So what if you won't feed us? We are under his command, not yours! Edward must be even stronger than you!''

Just as Edward was going to scold him as he clearly noticed Haize's huge aura pressing down on him, he saw that the black-haired man's sword was slightly removed from its sheath. A light flashed, as a head fell to the ground. From the headless body, blood rushed out continuously.

The ground was stained with a bright red liquid, and some blood splashed on the students' near the dead student. It happened in a fraction of a second, and the next thing they saw was Haize waving his sword to remove the blood from it. His face was completely emotionless as if taking a life was nothing.

Not agreeing? The solution was simple - Death. It was an unreasonable way of solving it, but Haize didn't care. He wasn't going to help anyone that actively entered his territory if they were useless. Most of the people that created factions were outcasts from the underground, so they actively avoided his territory.

Even the Covering Sun Faction outside of his territory was already so strong, what about the leader? Not to mention their fear of his strength, his huge prestige as the underworld Emperor is still here. Unless someone wanted to die, nobody was willing to go to his territory.

Afterwards, they didn't dare to say anything. Haize sheathed the sword before saying to them all, ''Tomorrow, I'll be raiding the remaining alive 1-Star being at commander-level. I'll leave enough injured Horned Lizards for the unawakened ones.''

After assigning two mansions near his one for the survivors following Edward, Haize apologized to the former, ''Sorry for the bad first impression, couldn't let any suspicious humans coming to my territory. Lyse lives here with me and John, so I can't possibly let other humans endanger us while we don't have a foothold on this apocalyptic world yet.''

Hearing what Haize said, Edward couldn't help but feel slightly envious that Lyse has such a caring big brother. At the same time, he felt happy that his best friend had someone that cared so much about him. His impression of Haize also became very good, 'No wonder he was like that!'

Truth to be told, Edward is a quite cheerful person. He was forced to act tough and cold in front of his subordinates, and that persona was instantly shattered in front of his best friend's family, ''Um... Uh, I can help to raid the Horned Lizards tomorrow, I have a strong ability named Sky Thunder!''

''...'' Haize stared at the nerd-like youngster in front of him blankly after seeing his cheerful expression. Then, he nodded before going to the underground basement and raising his sword upwards before slashing down. He kept doing this continuously, training his sword techniques.

As someone who trained with swords ever since he was a kid due to his father's urging, Haize knew that everything started from the basics. And as time passed, his movements slowly became complex, carrying a mysterious feeling on them.

Meanwhile, John was guiding Edward to the underground basement. Suddenly, the silver-haired youngster couldn't help but ask, ''Where did you even get these guns for the students, dude?''

''After you left, I found many guns on the principal's room. He escaped after being vicious to the point of abandoning his security for a chance to escape. The monsters caught up to him in a flash, and he was also killed.'' Edward said the story he hard from a survivor that followed him.

''Oh.'' John nodded in understanding, there were many vicious humans showing their true side on the apocalypse. Then, the cheerful duo got to the underground basement.

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AUTHOR NOTE: It may seem that Haize's emotions change too fast, but that's not really the case. Remember that as shown in past chapters, he had a double identity. He just knows to act according to the situation, no, he doesn't have a double personality, nor is he emotionally unstable.